Sorry about the loss of your best buddy. For those of us that are dog lovers I understand what you are going through. They are always there to greet you and go wherever you want to go. Never complaining and always happy to see you. They act like you have been away for months when all you did was go outside to the mailbox and back. Can't find a better friend. We all have to go through this at one time or another and a dog's life is way too short.

As far as the camera, there is no neat equivalent to the D3x right now, so I'd first ask what you plan to shoot with it and in what kind of lighting and circumstances? As a first reaction, I'd say if you already have a 40MP camera and you're happy with it, that a D4 would make a nice complement: sees in the dark, high frame rate, good MP count unless you're doing lots of enlargements, and the same D3-series body you know and love, but better.

Still, take that with a grain of salt since I can't really give good advice without knowing more about the needs which this new camera will fill for you.

As far as the camera, there is no neat equivalent to the D3x right now, so I'd first ask what you plan to shoot with it and in what kind of lighting and circumstances? As a first reaction, I'd say if you already have a 40MP camera and you're happy with it, that a D4 would make a nice complement: sees in the dark, high frame rate, good MP count unless you're doing lots of enlargements, and the same D3-series body you know and love, but better.

Still, take that with a grain of salt since I can't really give good advice without knowing more about the needs which this new camera will fill for you....Show more →

Some online shops still have the d3x. Most list it at > than the cost of a d4. Why not just have insurance cut you a check and then pick one up off of here used for <3k? For example, henrys lists it for near $8k (although they do not have any in stock).

IF you feel the D800 is a step down( It feels allot better with a grip!), although 36MP and image quality rivals a 40MP MF, then a D4 if an 8 MP loss is of no concern to you. Heck if I read your post correct and your getting replacement value on a D3X and the D3X was a perfect camera, pick up another D3X, they're many to be had in the used market and you would have enough left over for some nice glass or give the D800 a spin, it may surprise you.
I am so sorry to hear about your dog. My best buddy in the whole world is my Australian Terrier Maverick. I dont know what I would do with out him. I'm so sorry!

Many Thanks to all that commented on Bob.. The days are very very long here.

I had my call with the insurance company and inventoried the items stolen.

The guy said " I will hand this over to the department that will research this equipments replacement cost and give you a call back with that amount. You can then take that amount to replace the equipment, show us the receipts, we in turn will provide the reimbursement for those costs".

And with me being in Canada, I don't know if they'll entertain the shopping/shipping/importing/duties/taxes/ in the costs for these items, which would put the US market out of reach for this. I have no idea what or how I'll make out with the availability of the D3x showing around 8K for a body and not being able to replace that with a 'new body' because I may not be able to find one. So if I went up to a D4, I'll be loosing a considerable amount, not only in resolution, but in dollars.

We'll see what they get back to me in the next 2 or3 business days in as much as an amount of what they will allow me to to work with.

I think that you need to get yourself a new friend first. It would certainly be a big first step towards filling the void you feel right now. It would also make for some awesome companionship when you take the drive to the camera store to pick up your new D4, not to mention provide a very willing subject on which to try the new camera out.

Sorry about the double loss. I've never had a pet that long, but even after a couple years it was hard.

My D3 disappeared in August along with one lens and a couple cards. They didn't get the bag of other lenses anyway. It took about 2 months to get through the insurance claim process, during which time I relied on my old DX backup body. When the check came through I decided on the D4 rather than a D3/S, which is now old technology by a couple years.

I'm ISO driven rather than resolution driven, since I frequently do indoor events for which flash is not really an option. The D4 sounds great since it has ridiculously high ISO settings available.

After trying it out I find I like the D4, but I'd really call it a marginal improvement over something like a D3S. The only negative thing about it (to me) is the mix of cards. I decided to wait to see if they'd come out with a CF/XQD reader rather than use two separate readers. Since (AFAIK) the D4 is the only camera that uses an XQD card, I'll probably wait a while. Right now I read the XQD card (geez, that's hard to type, not being left-handed) through the camera with the USB cable.

The ergonomics is significantly different from the D3. More buttons, some of them moved, and more of them programmable. Some changes are good, some are just different. It took me a month or two (at my advanced age) to get used to the new locations of things. If you do primarily studio work on a tripod I wouldn't expect the ergonomics to be all that important, but you still have to learn the new locations of things.

I shot an event at ISO 6400-12800 and it did a great job. Some noise reduction needed in Lightroom, but not what I'd call excessive. Very usable. Experimented a bit with the ridiculously high ISO levels and found that up to 50K you can get pretty good results. At 200K I was able to get pretty good results only if I could have gotten pretty good results at 50K. Color rendition is awful way up there. It'll take a ton of PP and probably a lot of downsampling too. The camera will get images of things I can't see through the viewfinder, but I wouldn't really call them useful.

I can't compare directly, not having my D3 any more, but my impression is that the D4 autofocus is faster and maybe more accurate. My keeper rate has doubled (for focus, anyway, the camera hasn't improved my composition or timing "skills"). I'm not a video guy so I can't comment on that, but if you were using a D3X you had alternative methods of doing video, or else you're not a video guy either.

If you do events, the silent mode is a plus. First time I tried it the camera got about 25 shots before I realized it was taking pictures. The only indicator was the blinking green light. The downside is that it's jpg only. But if you're careful with exposure and white balance, it would be a great thing for weddings or theater where noise is frowned on.

I'd say the D4 is the one to get unless 16 MPixels is not enough for you. The difference from 24 to 16 is about 20% in linear resolution (square root of the ratio). IMHO, the advantage of the D4 over something like the D800 (with lots of pixels) is in the build quality and shutter rating. Frame rate shouldn't be that important. You'd be better off improving your timing skills than using spray and pray.

But it's going to take a while for the insurance wheels to turn, so you'll have lots of time to look into the alternatives.